>>24604978I wouldn't mind this so much if they weren't the ones that are so inferior to their evolutions.
Bulbasaur has a pretty solid design, so I didn't mind it that much with him, but I fucking despised Ash when Squirtle never evolved. Wartortle is literally my favorite Pokémon ever, but they've only shown a Wartortle in the anime like 3 times, only as background characters.
The same goes for Axew and Piplup, but especially Piplup. Empoleon was one of the only standouts when I first looked at the Gen 4 Pokémon, but after realizing Piplup wasn't going to ever evolve in the anime, I quit watching it and haven't gone back since.